The Christiane I is a salvage ship that made a discovery of the false remains of Oceanic Flight 815. It left port from Jakarta, Indonesia, and was looking for the Black Rock in the Sunda Trench before it "accidentally" found the sunken wreckage of the plane.

The ship was originally introduced as part of the storyline of the Lost alternate reality game Find 815 in December 2007 and January 2008. Soon afterwards, it became part of the television episode storyline when the second episode of Season 4, "Confirmed Dead", was broadcast in February 2008.

Contents

On Lost

Remains of Flight 815 as seen by ROV 02 camera

According to a television news broadcast, the Christiane I had been deployed in the Sunda Trench off Bali in the Indian Ocean for two months, searching for the remains of sunken trading ships. The exact mission of the Christiane I is still unknown, although it has been confirmed that one of their objectives was to find the remains of the Black Rock.[1] Instead, two ROVs operated by a crew member named Ron and an unnamed coworker of his discovered the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815, which would soon make the news headlines around the world. ("Confirmed Dead")

Sam found out from his friend Tracey that the Christiane I was a salvage ship in Jakarta due to leave within a few days on a confidential expedition. (Find 815 clues/January 1) Sam planned to hitch a ride aboard to find out how this search was connected to the disappearance of Flight 815. (Find 815 clues/January 4) Sam also asked Tracey to find out what she could on one of the other clues, "black rock", and how it might connect to the Christiane I. (Find 815 clues/January 6)

Following the search grid

Christiane I is following the search grid

After Sam located the Christiane I in the harbor of Jakarta, Mr. Ockham, the captain of the boat, turned him away, claiming that he'd be dead weight. Ockham explained that they would be at sea for months and that every gram of cargo was there for a specific purpose. But when the boat's chart plotter broke, Sam was able to fix it in exchange for a spot on the ship. A supervisor of the company that hired the ship, Oscar Talbot, seemed skeptical about letting Sam come on the expedition. However, Ockham explained that they would need Sam aboard, as their destination could be hazardous to Talbot's electronic equipment. Talbot consented, adding that he would install security measures. (Find 815 clues/January 7)

After several days aboard the ship Sam found out that the Christiane I's mission was to search for a sunken slave trading ship called the Black Rock that disappeared in 1881 while returning from a gold mining expedition around Papua New Guinea. (Find 815 clues/January 11) Later Sam figured out that the scrambled emails he received contained geographic coordinates, and pinpointed their location on the ship's chart plotter. (Find 815 clues/January 21)

Making the discovery

Sam discovers the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815

Sam choose to reveal the origin of the coordinates to Mr. Ockham, telling him that Talbot was concealing the truth. The captain was convinced and agreed to keep Talbot away from the bridge for a time, enough for Sam to reach the location of coordinates. Once the ship arrived at it's destination, the radar indicated that an object was located directly below the ship. The crew was enthusiastic, thinking they had found the Black Rock.(Find 815 clues/January 28)

The next morning the ship crew lowered down two ROVs that revealed that the object was actually not the Black Rock, but what they would announce as the sunken wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815. While Mr. Ockham showed surprise, and Talbot concealed his faint satisfaction, Sam broke down in tears.

After the discovery

The news that Oceanic Flight 815 finally had been found by Christiane I was reported around the world by various media. At his home at Sydney a flabbergasted Sam watched the news report about the 'accidental' discovery of Flight 815 and his role in it. In Essex, Massachusetts, Daniel Faraday wept as he watched the news report.

In the game, the discovery was made with only one ROV which was operated by Sam Thomas. In the opening scene of "Confirmed Dead" there are 2 ROVs, their operators are talking to each other and neither of them can be identified as Sam.

When Sam first finds the plane in the game, the camera only shows its tail. In the episode the cabin can be seen almost immediately after the discovery.

When the news broadcasts the video of Christiane I in the episode, the appearance of the ship is different from the one in the game.

When the map of Sunda Trench with the location of Flight 815 is shown in "Confirmed Dead", it is quite far away from the coordinates that Sam pinpointed.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly[2], Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed that most of the plot of the Find 815 ARG was created by Hoodlum, loosely based on the opening scene of "Confirmed Dead". According to Lindelof, only the Lost television show is strictly considered canon. However, Lindelof confirmed that one of the revelations from the ARG, namely the Christiane I having been searching for the remains of the Black Rock, was in fact to be considered canon - although there might have been a deeper purpose to their mission beyond simply finding the sunken ship.